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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Not sure what you are saying in your last post.
Did you install Puppy to its own partition? Were you then able to boot Puppy on the hard drive? Were you also able to boot windows 98?
You then deleted windows 98 and now cannot boot from the hard drive?
When you say you can boot off the CD, does that mean you are booting the Live CD with Puppy? or are you able to boot the installed version by using the Live CD? or do you know?

Yes I installed puppy seperately on its own partition, then i booted it from the hard drive. I could not boot windows 98 because i deleted the windows 98 partition because i dislike windows 98 and it was corrupt. after deleting the 98 partition my problem had been not being able to boot puppy from the hard drive because the flags were not set right. When i said booting from the CD i meant the live cd. With a few boots from the live cd i got my partitions straitend out andd the boot flags in the right places and everything works is there any way to make my puppy boot puppy by default or do i have to select lucid puppy every time i boot?

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in Console, edit, then save changes. If it's v2, it's a bit different. You'll need to remove the Windows boot script from /etc/grub.d folder, edit /etc/default/grub, then run update-grub in console to set the changes in grub.cfg.

Warning, backup your data first, this action will delete your partition table !!! Do not do this on a production system if you don't know exactly what you are doing!!!

I have used this before, so thanks to the user. I have now come across a situation where I have installed OpenSuse Leap as a dual-boot with Windows 7, however I am not happy with OpenSuse at all, & am going to remove, but when I remove it I am going to be left with a whole lot of weird partitions (that OpenSuse automatically creates when installing), so can I use this same command to selectively delete all the OpenSuse partitions by using (instead of "sda") use "sda2" (or whatever partition OpenSuse is on)?
I know this is getting into dangerous territory because I certainly don't want the Windows 7 partition / OS touched or wiped!

Restore the Windows Bootloader first before doing anything
There are tons of how tos on the web for doing just that.

Then after doing a chkdisk in WIndows and making sure it is the only operating booting OK by default.

Use a live cd to delete the Suse stuff. Live cd of your choice. Make the deleted Suse partitions one big partition and either make it a Windows friendly extra partition (fat32 or ntfs) or after deleting the Suse stuff. Leave it empty and boot into Windows and Use Windows disk manager to fill up the empty space with your running Windows install.

Let it do a chkdisk again after that when you reboot. You should be fine after that. But you never know with Windows sometimes. That is why I like this chromebook I am posting from. A recovery usb is just a few steps away. Fixes this thing every time. So does the "wash" function in ChromeOS.

I've done the above on one of my motorcycle tuner laptops when I used to dual boot it. I sold it and brought it back to stock Windows 7 doing what I described above.

...Make the deleted Suse partitions one big partition and either make it a Windows friendly extra partition (fat32 or ntfs) or after deleting the Suse stuff. Leave it empty and boot into Windows and Use Windows disk manager to fill up the empty space with your running Windows install.

I am going to then install Zorin or AntiX MX or Mint Mate in a dual-boot (with the Windows 7) arrangement

can I use this same command to selectively delete all the OpenSuse partitions by using (instead of "sda") use "sda2" (or whatever partition OpenSuse is on)?
I know this is getting into dangerous territory because I certainly don't want the Windows 7 partition / OS touched or wiped!

No, this command will completely erase the partitioning info on the disk. As rokytnji already said, the first thing you will have to do is to restore the Windows bootloader. I have a blog-post here describing how to do that: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...rtitions-4060/

After that you can simply use the Windows partition manager to delete the unwanted partitions, but as usual: partitioning is a system critical thing, so make sure that you have backed up your data before doing anything.

and also if I remove the linux partitions in dskmgt in Windows, that should probably leave me with (previously taken up by OpenSuse) unallocated space, so if I am going to install a different Linux OS - like Mint Mate or Zorin etc, then shouldn't I not have to worry about re-establishing the Windows bootloader because the new Linux OS will use the bootloader created by OpenSuse?

I am sure that I have used a different program to wipe the partitions of the 'just deleted' linux OS previously leaving Windows 7 (including the bootloader) intact........ maybe Macrium or easeus?....

If those programs restore the Windows bootloader then use those. If you just delete the Linux partitions the Grub bootloader will not be able to boot the system anymore.

Quote:

and also if I remove the linux partitions in dskmgt in Windows, that should probably leave me with (previously taken up by OpenSuse) unallocated space, so if I am going to install a different Linux OS - like Mint Mate or Zorin etc, then shouldn't I not have to worry about re-establishing the Windows bootloader because the new Linux OS will use the bootloader created by OpenSuse?

If you install a different distro than you indeed don't have to worry about the bootloader, but you also don't have to worry about removing the Linux partitions, since every Linux install disc comes already with a partitioning program by default.